This disclosure relates generally to print shop systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system for monitoring fault conditions in a print shop and for automatically notifying service personnel or other entity of conditions requiring attention.
Many types of print shop apparatus include internal systems which monitor their operation. These internal systems often operate to check the available quantities of items which are required for proper operation of the apparatus. This may include the amount of stock available in the apparatus for printing. Other systems may monitor the availability of supplies such as staples. Such systems operate to provide a signal when the quantities of such items reach levels indicative of a need for replenishment. It is also common to provide further signals regarding the operating status of the print shop apparatus.
Print shop apparatus often include systems for providing signals indicative of malfunctions or the existence of other conditions which impede the operation of the apparatus. For example, apparatus which accept completed or partially completed print jobs may reach a condition where the depository is filled and cannot accept further deposits. When this occurs the apparatus loses all or a portion of its functional capabilities.
Other malfunctions may include failures of paper transport mechanisms, optical readers, electronic readers or other components of the apparatus. In each case, upon sensing a failure condition, the apparatus is operative to generate signals indicative of the condition.
Different types of print shop apparatus generate different types of fault signals. One reason for this is that apparatus often include different components. For example, certain apparatus may function only to dispense print media such as paper, in which case no fault signals related to a depository are generated by such an apparatus. In addition, different manufactures use different types of fault signals for indicating conditions which exist in their apparatus.
The key element in fault signals or fault notifications, is the implied requirement for action. For the previous examples the actions are to add paper to the printer or to clear a jam in a paper path. In most of the cases, the action needs to be performed in a predefined location or over a predefined object.
Also in a given environment, there may be many people that can perform the action. In these cases, notifications are sent to one of the people capable of doing the action by using some predefined assignment or by using a dispatching system that allocate actions to people.
While in some situations the notification will describe a problem that needs immediate action and the notified person needs to stop whatever this person is doing and attend the problem, for most notifications that is not the case. In a typical notification, the user would acknowledge the receipt of the notification and not act upon it until later.
Conventional notification systems have several deficiencies. The person who is notified of the fault condition may be performing some other activity or may be at a remote location, thereby delaying a response to the notification. The person who is notified must be capable of handling the event that has caused the fault condition.